Al Gore hardest hit.

CAIRO — Egypt’s government has detained four journalists working for the Qatar-based Al Jazeera English news channel, arresting them during raids on a five-star hotel and at least one private residence Sunday night.

The reporters, including one Australian national, are accused of “harming national security” through links to the recently banned Muslim Brotherhood organization, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The arrests are the latest development in a rapidly escalating crackdown against the Brotherhood, an Islamist group that the government last week declared a “terrorist organization.”

Egyptian police said the Al Jazeera English bureau — which had been broadcasting from a suite at the Marriott hotel following the closure of its Arabic-language sister channel during a military coup in July — was being used as a meeting point and press center for members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt’s military-backed government has long accused Al Jazeera, whose Qatari patrons are allies of the Brotherhood, of being a mouthpiece for the organization.